THE TOUCANS. 29 
observed them perched on the tops of lofty trees, evidently watching the 
departure of birds from their nests, besides which, the remains of food found 
in the stomachs of such as were shot, proved that eges and young birds, as 
well as fruit, constituted their dict. He neyer, however, observed them in 
the act of destruction. 
On the 23d of November, 1824, Mr. Vigors had spoken at the Zodlogical 
Club of a living Toucan, which was then exhibited in St. Martin’s Lane. 
Mr. Vigors stated that the bird had been fed on a vegetable diet, but that 
the proprietor had told him, that on the occasion of a young Canary Bird 
| having escaped and gone near to the Toucan, the latter appeared more than 
usually excited; that thereupon the barrier between them was removed, and 
that the Toucan instantly seized and devoured the Canary Bird. On the 
next day Mr. Broderip went to the place where the Toucan was exhibited, 
and thus describes what he saw : — 
“After looking at the bird, which was the object of my visit, and which 
was apparently in the highest state of health, I asked the proprietor to bring 
up a little bird, that I might see how the Toucan would be affected by its 
appearance. He soon returned, bringing with him a Goldfinch —a last 
yeu’s bird. The instant he introduced his hand, with the Goldfinch, into 
the cage of the Toucan, the latter, which was on a perch, snatched it with 
his bill. The poor little bird had only time to utter a short, weak ery, for, 
within a second, it was dead, killed by compression on the sternum and 
abdomen, and that so powerful, that the bowels were protruded after a very 
few squeezes of the Toucan’s bill. As soon as the Goldfinch was dead, the 
Toucan hopped with it, still in his bill, to another perch, and, placing it 
with his bill between his right foot and the perch, began to strip off the 
feathers with his bill. When he had plucked away most of them, he broke 
the bones of the wings and legs (still holding the little bird in the same 
position) with his bill, taking the limbs therein, and giving, at the same 
time, a strong, lateral wrench. He continued this work with great dexter- 
ity, till he had almost reduced the bird to a shapeless mass; and ever and 
anon he would take his prey from the perch in his bill, and hop from perch 
to perch, making, at the same time, a peculiar, hollow, chattering noise ; 
at which times I observed that his bill and wings were affected with a vibra- 
tory or shivering motion, though the latter were not expanded. He would 
then return the bird to the perch with his bill, and set his foot on it. He 
first ate the viscera, and continued pulling off and swallowing piece after 
piece, till the head, neck, and part of the back of the sternum, with their 
soft parts, were alone left; these, after a little more wrenching, while they 
were held on the perch and masticated, as it were, while they were held in 
the bill, he at last swallowed, not even leaving the beak or legs of his prey. 
NO. XII. el 
